On Eve of Quake Anniversary, Thousands Demand End to Nuclear Power

Stockbyte/Thinkstock(TOKYO) -- Thousands rallied against a government plan to restart idle nuclear reactors in Japan on Sunday.

The protests come as the country marks the second anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Two years later, 160,000 people remain displaced, and the 12 mile area around the plant remains off limits, though radiation levels have dropped 40 percent.

At the plant, 3,000 thousand workers continue to lay the groundwork to decommission the reactors, which is a process that is expected to take 40 years.

But new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has already reversed a plan to phase out nuclear power angering the public, which remains largely opposed to atomic energy.